A Hustler's Son II (19 page)

Kyope waited patiently in his living room although he already knew he wouldn’t answer that number either. He was growing heated. He felt over the past few months, things were going out of control. And after meeting with Aven, he had plans to kill Jarvis. But how could he do it when he couldn’t find him?

“Nope…he not answerin’ that either. Want me to call the chick who keeps his nephew?”

“No…hang up.”

He decided to pay a visit to Jarvis’s place since he wouldn’t answer the phone. And this time when he saw him, he had no intentions on playing nice.

Tuesday, 12:22, am

****

I finally understood what Biggie meant when he said he’s ready to die.

-Kelsi

We parked blocks from Jarvis’s crib so he wouldn’t see me pull up. And I didn’t want Bricks and Melvin, gettin’ spotted. As I sat in the car wit’ Bricks and Melvin a few blocks from Jarvis’s crib, I thought about what was gettin’ ready to happen. There was no need in procrastinatin’. I had to do what I came to New York to do. I was gettin’ ready to get out when Bricks grabbed my arm.

Walkin’ up the block a few people looked at me and I felt like everyone had they eyes on me. I almost made it to Jarvis’s buildin’ when I heard, “Kelsi.” I turned around and saw the same man who killed Kenosha. I placed my hand on my heat.

“Like I said,” I continued, backin’ away. I would’ve bust his head open right there but then I wouldn’t get the chance to help O. “I ain’t goin’ nowhere wit’ you! So whateva you gonna do, you can do it right here.” He walked toward me and I walked back. “Don’t come near me,” I told him. “I’m warnin’ you.”

“I’m sorry, man. I’m not goin’ to be able to do that. I’m not goin’ to hurt you. If I wanted to, you’d be dead by now.”

I knew this fool wasn’t goin’ to let me walk away. Whateva he wanted with me was serious. So I was ‘bout to take out my fire and smoke him, when I was struck on the head from the back.

When I came to I was sittin’ in a hotel room. I jumped up and reached for my gun and it wasn’t there. Where the fuck was I? I was just ‘bout to leave when he appeared through the door again.

Tuesday, 12:47 am

****

I guess all good things must come to an end.

-Jarvis

Jarvis made several calls to Prangsta but he didn’t get an answer. He had a feeling something terrible happened to him, but hoped that wasn’t the case. His phone had been ringing off of the hook and once again he saw Kyope’s number. As he had the other times, he ignored his call and placed the phone back in his pocket. He wanted to have proof that Kelsi was a snake before he talked to him again. He was in his apartment having a drink when there was a knock at the door.

“Who is it?” he asked, walking to the door with his drink in hand.

“It’s me,” Kyope said. “Open up, man.”

Jarvis took a deep breath, downed the liquid in his glass and placed it on the table by the door. Taking a look at himself in the mirror, he opened the door. It was time to deal with their issues. Once the door was open, Jarvis walked away without greeting Kyope. He shut and locked the door behind himself.

“So say that first. Fuck you lie for?” Kyope said, placing his phone back on the clip on his hip. Jarvis remained silent. “You’ve been doin’ a lot of that lately. Lyin’ that is.”

“Like I said…I needed to clear my head.”

“Clear your head huh?”

“Yeah. I was ‘bout to call you though. Seems you not on your game like you use to be, Kyope. In fact, your game is some shit right now.”

“Nigga, what is you sayin’?”

“Your man not as innocent as you think he is.”

“Not this shit again,” Kyope said. He knew he was referring to Aven. “When you gonna take responsibility for the shit you do? The breakdown in our operation ain’t got shit to do wit’, Aven.”

“Kelsi,” Jarvis corrected him. “Ain’t got shit to do wit’
Kelsi
.”

“Kelsi? Who the fuck is that?”

“Helena’s, son,” Jarvis said hesitantly. He knew that although Aven wasn’t who he said he was, Kyope would look at this as still being his fault. Considering Helena was his girlfriend. While Jarvis thoughts kept him busy. Kyope was thinking about Kelsi. He remembered the first time he met him at Waves. He knew then that he looked familiar but Kelsi’s warrior spirit blinded him.

“So why is he here? Fuck does he want?” Kyope asked.

“I don’t know, man. I don’t know what he wants. I just know that he’s here and he’s been lyin’ to you the entire time. I think he’s after me for killing his mother.”

Kyope paced the room and placed his hands on his head. While he was thinking about the predicament, there was another knock at the door. Jarvis looked at Kyope and shrugged his shoulders. He proceeded to the door looking out of the peephole. It was Crane.

“It’s, Crane,” Jarvis said. He opened the door and Crane walked in and closed the door behind him.

“Glad you here, man,” Kyope said. “We got a lot of shit to handle and it’s gonna be a long night.”

Kyope and Jarvis were in mid-conversation until they saw the door swing open. Both Kyope and Jarvis looked liked they saw a ghost when they saw who walked in. Dressed in all black, wearing a long coat, stood Helena, or as the world had come to know her, Janet Stayley, Kelsi’s mother.

Tuesday, 1:09 am

****

Just when you think you know it all, you find out you don’t know shit.

-Kelsi

What he was sayin’ had me fucked up. Speechless. We were in a hotel not too far from Jarvis’s place. I could tell dude had been stayin’ here because his personal items were everywhere.

“Why you fuckin’ wit’ me?” I asked him leanin’ against the wall unable to support my own weight. My head was spinnin’. “If I was you, I wouldn’t fuck wit’ me.”

“I ain’t fuckin’ wit’ you, Kelsi. I’m your uncle and I’m here to tell you your mother is alive. I ain’t got nothin’ to gain by lyin’ to you, young blood.”

I looked at his ashy black skin and couldn’t find a shred of resemblance wit’ me or my mother. My mother was beautiful, and had almond colored skin. This man was unattractive and hard on the eyes to say the least. He looked like he spent a lot of time in jail and was goin’ back soon.

“My mother ain’t alive!” I said swingin’ at the air. The possibility of it being true angered me cuz I ain’t wanna feel let down if it was all a lie. “Stop fuckin’ wit’ me, nigga! She died months ago!!”

“No…they
think
she died months ago. But she alive, baby boy.”

“B…but…if she alive, how come she ain’t get at me? How come she let me go through this shit when she know how much I miss her? My moms would neva put me through the torture I been through!”

“Cuz she ain’t want nobody findin’ out she was still alive before everything was said and done. She wanted to make sure she protected her identity, but most of all, she wanted to protect you.”

I rubbed my head over and over trynna understand everything he was sayin’ to me. My mother is alive? Can it be possible? I looked at him coldly. I wanted him to know if he was lyin’, weapon or not, I’d kill him wit’ my bare hands.

“If…if you really my uncle, then why you kill Kenosha?”

“Cuz she was goin’ hurt you. Skully and Kenosha were the ones who shot your mother. And Skully made you think it was Jarvis so you could do
his
dirty work. You out here on Skully’s bullshit, young blood. Kenosha was sposed to be makin’ sure you went along wit’ the plan. But she ended up findin’ Jarvis by accident. I killed her to protect you. Cuz once you laid Jarvis down, she was goin’ kill you herself.”

As he spoke, I started rememberin’ all the late night calls from Skully. And how Kenosha always appeared to have ulterior motives when she asked me ‘bout my whereabouts. It was like she trynna make me angrier than I already was for Jarvis killin’ my moms.

“Where is she?”

“Who?” he asked nervously.

“My mother?! Where is she? If she alive, let me see her. Let me talk to her.”

“She’s handlin’ business, right now, Kelsi.”

“What kind of business?”

“She ‘bout to take care of Jarvis and Kyope.”

“Alone?”

“No,” he said calmly. “She got help.”

I had so many emotions goin’ on inside of me that eventually I started to feel naïve for believin’ him. How I know he wasn’t wit’ Kyope and Jarvis and was fuckin’ wit’ me cuz of how I fucked wit’ them?

“If my moms is really alive, tell me somethin’ only she and I would know.”

He smiled and said, “She told me you’d say that,” he paused. “You killed someone in front of your apartment buildin’, and she helped you cover the crime.”

“Too easy,” I told him. “Everybody already think I had somethin’ to do wit’ that shit.”

“You and she killed Delonte and dumped his body in Ft. Dupont park,” he added.

“Still not good enough,” although I was startin’ to believe him.

“The night your mother was murdered, ya’ll had plans to kill your father for the insurance money.”

That’s what I wanted to hear.

“I need you to do me a favor,” I told him.

“Anything,” he said.

I hoped the nigga was straight up, but needed to know for sure.

“I need you to call my moms,” I told him. “Right now. Please, man. I gotta speak to her.”

“I’ll see what I can do.”

September 30, Friday, 10:40 pm

The hardest thing in life is knowin’ your child’s hurtin’, and not bein’ able to do a damn thing about it.

The Day of Her Supposed Death

Janet was shot by Skully as Kenosha stood watching.

“Let’s get outta here,” Skully said. “Before somebody calls five “O”.

They were in an abandoned apartment building in Bladensburg, Maryland. Although no one lived in building for years, a few nearby buildings still had tenants.

“We just gonna leave her here?” Kenosha asked, looking down.

“Yeah,” he said taking one last look at Janet who was on the floor with her arms tied behind her, and around a pole. “Let somebody else clean up our dirty work.”

They left hand and hand, leaving Janet’s soul to escape her body. When they left, an elderly woman who heard the gun shots walked into the basement. Like a few of the local crack heads, she came to tear the copper out of the abandoned building for money to support her habit.

“Oh, sweetheart,” the woman said seeing her condition. Janet’s face was badly beaten and blood was pouring from all parts of her body. When she checked her pulse, it was faint. She looked behind her a few times to be sure the shooters didn’t come back. “Hang on, I’m gonna get you some help.”

Reaching into her pants, she used a stolen disconnected cell phone that was only good for dialing 911. She had plans to sell it later for money. Janet was unconscious and sinking deeply into death.

Realizing she was probably getting in over her head, she ended the call and left Janet alone. She figured she’d done her good Samaritan deed for the day. The rest was up to them.

“I’m not sure but I think its crack head Hanna,” he said pointing to the corner of the building. Thinking they were talking about her, she ran away. She’d been watching from the side of the building ever since she made the call. She wanted to be sure they came for her. “But who knows. It could’ve been anybody.”

They whisked Janet off to Prince Georges Hospital Center’s, Trauma Unit. They arrived within minutes. Because she was hanging on to life, she was unable to tell them who shot her. And since it was an attempted murder, the hospital and the local police department was hesitant about releasing any information, for fear of her life. Months later, Janet still hadn’t regained consciousness from the multiple bullet wounds in her chest. She was in a coma. Every other day a detective would stop by to see if she came around and their visits were all in vain.